Creep On Creepin' On

Canadian group mixes retro-rock with elements of doo-wop- and blues-indebted minimalism. Colin Stetson guests.

Timber Timbre frontman Taylor Kirk's got style, no doubt about it. His rich croon carries a bit of Elvis Presley's curled-lip sneer and touches of Nick Cave's matter-of-fact rumble, and his dark-hewed retro-rock tunes are spare and slinky; should David Lynch ever helm a "Mad Men", Kirk and company could easily provide the score. Timber Timbre's latest, Creep On Creepin' On, is a dapper set of darkly atmospheric doo-wop and blues but possessed with a style all its own.

Creep On's stark, shadowy swing is nearly as distinctive as Kirk's voice. With its emphasis on empty space and a fondness for acoustic instruments, there's a twisted proto-rock'n'roll feel to it, like the Everly Brothers if Susie'd never woken up. There's also a Grizzly Bear-like balance of spaciousness and swiveling parts, although Creep On's tone is far bleaker than that of Veckatimest. These songs shuffle and sway before strings and saxophones (the latter from sideman-of-the-moment Colin Stetson) inevitably start to swarm, sending bold streaks of color through the black-and-white filter of Kirk's midnight creep.

Strange and startling, these bursts of cacophony provide an unlikely counterpoint to Timber Timbre's stripped-back tunes. Though they're meant to heighten the desperation at the heart of these songs, the two sides clash about as often as they complement each other, the towering, clamorous arrangements occasionally overpowering Kirk's melodies. But when it all comes together, it's stunning; highpoint "Woman" starts out honking, downshifts into an insistent croon, and then ramps back up again to close, moving fluidly through its wildly disparate sounds. But a yearning ballad like "Lonesome Hunter" would've fared just fine without the 30 seconds of orchestral insanity that closes it out; same goes for the din that ends "Do I Have Power" or the out-from-nowhere instrumental midsection of opener "Bad Ritual."

At their loudest, these dissonant blasts all but crowd Kirk out of his own record; a shame, since his skewed takes on romantic obsession are a worthy focal point. Though Timber Timbre should be praised for attempting to bring these disparate sounds together, they'd fare better with fewer instrumental freakouts, clearing more room for Kirk's twisted tales of romance gone awry. Stylish as Kirk's songs can be, they aren't always well suited by Creep On's contrasting patterns.